Patty Shelton

Patty is an amazing option as a wedding coordinator, especially if you're a bride on a budget. She was so helpful and very cost-effective. My timeline and wedding planning was a bit crazy: We had five months to plan. I had a specific budget. My groom and I were in separate countries at the time of our engagement, and the time zone I was in required me to wedding plan in the middle of the night. I was in a massive job and life transition that required me to move back home and change jobs. I had never planned an event of this scale before. I hadn't spent much time dreaming of what our wedding could be like, so I really needed help. There were so many options out there.

I contacted Patty at the outset and she was more than ready to work with me. I waded around quite a bit through ideas on my own, changed my mind several times, and then finally caught a vision of what I was going for late in the process. She was very responsive and supported that vision once I had it. She suggested several options for direction/theme, sent me several bids, recommended a sound guy, venues, managed my floral arrangements and was on-site on the wedding day. She had no hidden fees and had no issues with me talking directly with vendors. She did her job with patience, thoroughness, and a lot of joy, taking extra trips to the store to find things to put in my bouquet beforehand, ran to the store on the day to pick up some extra supplies, and was a good contact person to have on the day for people with questions.

Ultimately, she handled: My venues, wedding decorations including flowers, chair covers and pillars, sound guy, and wedding coordination on the day. I brought my own wedding photographer and officiant, but she also had recommendations for those. She also suggested the cake person that I used for my reception.

The best way to work with her: Remember that you're the bride. She's a partner in the process. This will work best if you take the responsibility to do some questioning and digging (ask Patty, look for local brides (http://weddingmapper.com), look on pinterest for theme ideas, walk around the city on google), make up your mind, cast the vision for her, and then ask for her help in making that happen.